Rule change upsets past Walleye Weekend hole-in-one shootout winners

May 15, 2014

Jeff Lehner of Fond du Lac poses with his golf club at Whispering Springs Golf Club. Lehner has won three boats over the past decade at the Mercury Million-Dollar Hole-in-One Shootout at Walleye Weekend. Due to a rule change enacted this year, Lehner won't qualify to win the boat or a trip if he is closest to the pin. However, he can still win the hole-in-one prizes: A new car, a new truck or the million-dollar jackpot. / Patrick Flood/Action Reporter Media

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Do you have thoughts on the Hole-in-One Shootout or other attractions at Walleye Weekend? Do you have new ideas for the festival? Share them with Fond du Lac Festivals by visiting the organization’s website at fdlfest.com. The site contains links to Walleye Weekend and other events, as well as contact information. • Visit fdlreporter.com to vote on our poll question about the rule change.

The rule change

This text from the Mercury Million Dollar Hole-in-One Shootout at Walleye Weekend shows the rule change for previous winners: “Effective 2014, a participant having won a closest-to-the pin prize (trip, boat) in the past two years (2012 and 2013), is ineligible to participate in the closest-to-the pin competition for two consecutive years effective the year after winning. The participant is still eligible to compete for the hole-in-one prizes ($1,000,000, car, truck). Furthermore, when a participant wins a hole-in-one prize ($1,000,000, car, truck) the participant is ineligible to participate in the hole-in-one for two consecutive years effective the year after winning.” • For the full list of rules, visit fdlfest.com or see this story at fdlreporter.com.

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A change in the Walleye Weekend Hole-In-One Shootout has upset at least one past winner.

Starting this year, anyone who won the closest-to-the-pin prize — usually a trip or a boat — in the previous two events won’t be able to qualify for those prizes this year or next year. They can still win the $1 million jackpot, but if they land closest to the pin they could walk away empty handed.

Jeff Lehner is one of those individuals. The Fond du Lac man said he won a set of golf clubs many years ago and won the boat in 2005, 2012 and 2013. He said Walleye Weekend organizer Fond du Lac Festivals informed him of the rule change this spring. He added that he probably wouldn’t have minded so much if he’d received more advance notice.

Lehner said he feels the rule change is unfair since it was enacted with little warning and penalizes golfers who have worked hard to practice their swings. He said the contest is open to any amateur and, while skill is important, there is always a chance that Lady Luck will smile on certain players, regardless of their abilities.

“(Other people) have every chance to win, just like I do,” he said. “I feel I should be treated as everybody else.”

Fellow golfer Jim Diener feels likewise. The Fond du Lac man said he has golfed with Lehner and has also played the Hole-in-One Shootout numerous times. He won a set of golf clubs years ago, but has never landed a hole-in-one. He said he plans to try again this year for the million dollars, but would be happy with the boat or other closest-to-the-pin prize.

“I just don’t get what (Fond du Lac Festivals) thinks they are trying to accomplish,” he said. “It’s not like someone is not going to enter because Jeff Lehner is in it.

“I don’t think anyone would care if Jeff won the boat again,” he added. “It’s pretty amazing that he’s won it three times.”

Qualifiers for the Mercury Million-Dollar Hole-in-One Shootout start this weekend and continue for the next two weekends. The Shootout takes place over Walleye Weekend June 6-8 in Lakeside Park.

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The contest is comprised of three holes. Players who sink a hole-in-one win the million dollars, a 2014 Chevy Silverado or a 2014 Chevy Impala if they hit the corresponding holes. The player who lands the ball closest to a pin will win a Lowe boat with a Mercury Marine outboard engine. Second closest to the pin will win a trip to Cancun, Mexico.

The Shootout will support Blue Line Family Ice Center in Fond du Lac.

Open to others

The 10-member board of Fond du Lac Festivals approved the rule change on April 15 “in the interest of fairness,” said Leanne Doyle, the organization’s executive director. She said that winners in the last two years still have a chance to win the million dollars or the vehicles, but they won’t qualify for the trip or the boat.

“We ultimately want to open it up to more people, more players,” she said.

She said the change affected three previous winners.

She explained that, if a disqualified player hits the ball closest to the pin, the judges will award the prize to the next closest person.

The decision wasn’t based on a case of a few sore losers; Doyle said no one has complained about the same people winning every year. She said other hole-in-one contests have enacted similar limitations.

The Reporter researched million-dollar hole-in-one shootouts from across the country, but none of the competitions gave specific limits on past winners. Otherwise, most contests mirror the Mercury shootout, offering multiple prizes, being open to amateurs only and raising money for nonprofits.

“Nobody is being banned for an entirety,” she said. “It’s a revolving two-year period.”

That’s some good news for Lehner, who said he has played the million-dollar Shootout for one reason only: For a shot at the grand prize. He said he hasn’t played for the boats, trips or trucks; he just happened to wind up closest to the pin.

As for his previous prizes, he said he used the clubs for several years before giving them to a relative, and he sold the boats since he’s more of a golfer than an angler.

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Big winner?

Winning the million dollars is no easy task; just landing close to the pin is a feat. Doyle said she’s been involved with Walleye Weekend for years and has never seen a million-dollar winner.

Lehner added that he’s played the shootout for decades and each year is a challenge, even for seasoned players.

Lehner said he’s been golfing since he was 12 years old. He suffered an accident when he was young and lost most of the fingers on his right hand. Since that time, he has golfed with only a thumb and part of a first finger.

Now in his 60s and retired, Lehner looks forward to hitting the course on a regular basis. But when he heads out to Lakeside Park for the Shootout, it’s a very different terrain than at his home course at Whispering Springs Golf Club.

On a scale of one to 10, with one being easiest and 10 being most difficult, the Hole-in-One Shootout is a nine or a 10, he said. Players use floating golf balls, and the wind usually blows at challenging angles and speeds. The “green” is a patch of uneven terrain, so it’s difficult to keep a ball close to the pin. Numerous golf balls end up in Lake Winnebago and need to be retrieved by a team in a boat.

“Just to land the ball on the green is a good shot,” Diener said.

Although he’s not happy with the change, Lehner said he’ll still participate in this year’s contest, holding out hope of sinking the one-in-a-million shot.

Doyle also hopes for the swing that will send up cheers at Lakeside Park.

“I would love to (see someone win the million dollars),” she said. “I think we would all love to see that.”